Thursday 26th October

Yesterday, Gary and Sam had seen 8 Bullfinch at the start of the track leading out  from Bunnahabhain, out on to the hill. They also saw a Woodcock shortly afterwards. Today, Graham and Jo had seen many  Redwing, a flock of 20 Twite, 4 Reed Bunting, a male and a ringtail Hen Harrier, 2  Golden Eagles, a Peregrine and also 2 Ravens, all on the Oa. Coming back to Port Ellen they saw a Swallow. Out on Loch Indaal from a vantage point close to Blackrock, they saw a GND, 2 Slav Grebes, 2 Common Scoter and a probable Common Tern. Off Bruichladdich, they saw 2 Common Guillemots while on the shore a Wheatear, Rock Pipit and Ringed Plover were seen. Mike and Elspeth had a Merlin on the Oa and also a large flock of Fieldfare and also around a dozen Whitefronts close to Leorin. Gary had ben out with clients seeing a Merlin on the Moss road, just out of Bowmore 4 Golden Eagles on the south of Islay, a juv Swallow at Imeraval and heard Crossbill calling at the plantation on the "Glen road".   On the ferry back to the mainland, just out of Port Ellen, Richard and Pat had seen 20 GND and a BTD. Half an hour in to their crossing, they had an Arctic Skua and 9 Bonxies.. the Bonxies were their 100th species seen this visit.. Peter and Janet had counted 570 Golden Plover on the flats at Gruinart, and also spotted 2 Todd's Canada Geese.They saw 2 Swallows over Islay House Square this afternoon  while out on Loch Indaal, they had 3 GND, a RTD and a Slav Grebe. Other visiting birders, Bob and Sheena Tonner from Paisley had also seen 3 GND between Bridgend and Port Charlotte, a BTD off Port Charlotte, 20 Whitefronts down at Octofad. Highlights from a "mini sea watch" at Frenchman's Rocks  include a RTD, 50 Kittiwakes, 4 Manx Shearwater, a Brent Goose and also a Purple Sandpiper on the rocks nearby...  Here at home today George E. Jackson is back over for a few days visiting, so we had a wee session ringing some of the birds, in total George caught and rung a total of 22 birds with 2 retraps from previous sessions. We had a male Brambling and a Great Tit as well as some House Sparrows, Goldfinches and Chaffinches. We also saw several departing groups of Whoopers heading away over to Ireland.